Eastern Tiger Sal vs. Midland Brown Snake

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JBBoiler
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Eastern Tiger Sal vs. Midland Brown Snake

Post by JBBoiler »

These photos were put on the topic of Wild Herps Feeding, but I wondered if anyone else has ever witnessed a salamander eating a snake verses the opposite occurring? This was not a baby brown snake and a large meal for this salamander, however, he was handling it well.

Tiger Sal vs. Midland Brown Snake:

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Chomp:

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Carl Brune
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Re: Eastern Tiger Sal vs. Midland Brown Snake

Post by Carl Brune »

Awesome!
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Martti Niskanen
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Re: Eastern Tiger Sal vs. Midland Brown Snake

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Great documentation!

edit: if captured in situ.
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walk-about
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Re: Eastern Tiger Sal vs. Midland Brown Snake

Post by walk-about »

That is pretty dang awesome!! Are you sure about the id on that snake?? Looks (dorsally) like Storeria occipitomaculata.

Dave
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BillMcGighan
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Re: Eastern Tiger Sal vs. Midland Brown Snake

Post by BillMcGighan »

Very Cool series.
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Noah M
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Re: Eastern Tiger Sal vs. Midland Brown Snake

Post by Noah M »

This is awesome!
Are you sure about the id on that snake?? Looks (dorsally) like Storeria occipitomaculata.
I would venture a guess he didn't bother checking it more closely because he didn't want to disturb what he was seeing. Either way, it does look to be a Storeria spp.

I kinda wonder if small ringers are ever eaten by tigers. Or maybe tigers are like the bullfrogs of the world, and just eat whatever they stuff in their mouths.
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JBBoiler
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Re: Eastern Tiger Sal vs. Midland Brown Snake

Post by JBBoiler »

Thanks!

Martti - The photos were taken in the field. I guess I would define "in situ" as no disruption at all. In this case, I flipped a railroad tie to find the salamander and snake. I am not sure this would qualify as "in situ" or not.

Dave - To be honest I cannot say for sure the id on the snake. Dorsally, it looks like many of the brown snakes I find in the area, but looking closely at a couple of the photos, the underside of the tail does seem to show some orange would would indicate it could be a redbelly. Several brown snakes and redbelly snakes were found on this day.

Captainjack is correct in that I flipped the railroad tie, took a few photos as quickly as possible and then carefully covered them back up. I thought brown snake the entire time until Dave asked the question.

This is a photo of two brown snakes and a redbelly flipped under one piece of cover that day. These are typical coloration of both in my area:

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This is a little more stunning redbelly snake from the same day:

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And for the heck of it, here is a neonate smooth green also found October 10:

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John
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pjfishpa
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Re: Eastern Tiger Sal vs. Midland Brown Snake

Post by pjfishpa »

Very, very, cool indeed! Nice find man.
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